In the north-western regions on Thursday the rains will weaken, they will be small and short-lived, with clearing it will become a little warmer, up to +16...+21оС. In the center of Russia on Thursday, northwest winds will continue to bring in fresh air, and the temperature during the day will become even lower, to +12...+17°C, with light rain falling in the rear of the cyclone.

The state intends to exempt seaports and airports under construction from property taxes The State Duma supported the Russian government’s proposal to exempt newly introduced infrastructure facilities in inland water and air transport from property taxes for 15 years. The corresponding bill was recently adopted by deputies in the first reading.

The World Bank assessed the prospects for the Russian economy The nature of the recovery of the Russian economy was called unstable in the latest report of the World Bank (WB) office in Russia published yesterday. After accelerating the growth rate of industrial production to 6% in the fourth quarter of 2009, a steady decline was observed at the beginning of this year.

General Motors withdraws requests for financial assistance from the EU General Motors (GM) is withdrawing its request for financial assistance from EU governments for its subsidiaries Opel and Vauxhall and will finance their upcoming restructuring of the enterprises independently, the automaker said in an official statement. The announcement follows the German government's refusal last week to provide the company with 1.8 billion euros in financial aid to restructure its European plants.

The world's main animation festival has ended The Annecy Festival handed out prizes, some of which, as usual, were quite expected, and some of which were disappointing. The main disappointment of domestic participants was that although there were more Russian films in the current competition than ever before, none of them received anything. However, this is exactly what was expected.

The sixth game of the NBA finals, which is played up to four wins by one of the opponents, ended with a home victory for the Los Angeles Lakers over the Boston Celtics - 89:67. The overall score became equal - 3-3. The decisive meeting will take place late tonight Moscow time again in California. The Celtics-Lakers rivalry is a true classic in world sports. These teams are fighting each other in the final series for the twelfth time.

Dagestan security forces conducted two successful operations against the separatists In Dagestan, yesterday morning the special services carried out two successful special operations, as a result of which, according to preliminary data, at least ten militants were killed. The security forces themselves suffered significant losses. In the Khasavyurt district, during the storming of a house where bandits were holed up, four special forces officers were killed and four more were wounded.

Managing Director of SAP AG (the world's largest supplier of business management software and economic software) in Russia and the CIS, Vladislav MARTYNOV, believes that our country can overcome the lag in IT development from the West within five years. This is an optimistic forecast that has a chance of success under one condition: the domestic economy is seriously concerned about increasing labor productivity. -- SAP does not provide detailed information about its business in Russia.

Barack Obama doesn't want to share Jimmy Carter's political fate US President Barack Obama is determined. And for good reason. On Tuesday evening, in an address to the nation, he condemned British Petroleum for its failure to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to most American experts, the president and his team needed a demonstration of activity and assertiveness for their own political survival.

The 32nd International Film Festival opens in Moscow The competition program included 17 films from different countries, five of which were debuts (the only Russian participant this time was the first feature film by the famous documentarian Yuri Schiller, “Sparrow”). There are probably no truly famous names on the list of competing directors, so you will have to evaluate the competition as it goes along.

WINGAS compensated for the decline in sales in Germany It was no coincidence that the next annual reporting press conference of WINGAS (a joint venture of Gazprom and Wintershall, created 17 years ago for the transportation and sale of gas in Germany) was held yesterday in Brussels. WINGAS compensated for the difficult situation in its native German market, where total consumption decreased by 5.5% in 2009, through active expansion into the markets of other countries of the united Europe.

To maintain faith in the Spanish economy Rumors about an impending aid package for Spain have once again brought investors' attention to the problem of the European debt crisis. Against this background, world stock markets interrupted the rally, and the euro continued to fall again.

The political battle in Moldova has been postponed until autumn The Parliament of Moldova will be dissolved only in the fall after a referendum is held on the transition from the system of electing the president by parliament deputies to popular elections of the head of state. Acting head of state Speaker of Parliament Mihai Ghimpu announced this yesterday.

Dementieva will miss Wimbledon Semi-finalist of Wimbledon 2009, fifth racket of the world, Russian Elena Dementieva will not compete at the third Grand Slam tournament of the season, Wimbledon. The reason for this decision was the injury suffered by the athlete during the recent French Open tennis championship. It was health problems that did not allow Dementieva to reach the final of Roland Garros 2010.

The European Union has come up with a new discipline for states, bankers and businessmen The leaders of 27 European Union countries, who are meeting today for the next summit in Brussels, are devoting their meeting to the economy, which is natural given the current situation in Europe. The economy not only in the sense of urgently patching holes, but also in the long term.